This exercise presents
the basic concepts needed to learn and understand how to Copy, Cut and
Paste data in Excel. It is presented at the very basic level assuming the
user has little or no experience using Excel or these commands. It does
assume you know how to use the mouse, know how to highlight (select) a
cell or range of cells and are familiar with basic Excel navigational skills.
Self-taught intermediate users will learn from this exercise by obtaining
a better understanding of what they have been doing and perhaps learning
some short-cuts. The beginning user will spend about 10-20 minutes on this
exercise, while experienced user can do all the steps as a review in 5-10
minutes.

To copy the data from
one cell to another cell:

1. Click on cell A1

2. Type your name
and press Enter

To enter practice data
in the cell

3. Click on Edit
(in the menu) Copy

To begin the copy process.
Note the marquee around the cell and message in the lower left of the screen.
More on this later.

4. Click on cellB1

5. Click onEdit (in the menu)Paste

The data has been copied.
Also note the marquee is still displayed as well as the message in the
lower left of the screen.

6. PressEscape (on the keyboard)

To clear the marquee
around cell A1. This step is not required to complete the copy and paste
commands, but is included for instructional purposes. More on this later.

Review:

To copy data from one cell
to another using Excel's menu commands:

Place the cursor in the cell
you want to Copy From

Select Copy

Select the cell to Copy To
(it's actually Paste To)

Select Paste

In other words, Copy From
and Paste To

Concepts:

When you select Copy,
Excel places that data into an area in the PC memory called the Clipboard.
While the data is in the clipboard, the marquee is displayed as an indicator
that the corresponding data is in the clipboard, ready to be pasted. When
you select Paste, the data in the clipboard is copied from the clipboard
to the designated location (cell). As long as the data is in the clipboard,
the data can be pasted again and again. Also, since the clipboard is a
part of the PCs memory, the data can be pasted to other programs on the
PC.

Next Exercise:

To copy the data from
one cell to another cell, with multiple pasting:

1. Click on cellC1

2. Type12345 and pressEnter

To enter practice data
in the cell

3. Click on Edit (in the menu) Copy

Again, note the marquee
around the cell and message in the lower left of the screen.

4. Click on cell D1

5. Click on Edit
(in the menu) Paste

The data has been copied.
Also note the marquee is still displayed as well as the message in the
lower left of the screen. This means you can continue to copy, if desired.

6. Click on cell E1

7. Click on Edit
(in the menu) Paste

The data is pasted
again. The marquee is still displayed

8. Click on cell A1

We are going to copy
this data over your name entered earlier.

9. Click on Edit
(in the menu) Paste

10. Click on cellB111. Click on Edit (in the menu) Paste

The data is again pasted.
Before proceeding to the next step, make sure all the cells, A1 to E1 have
the numbers in the cells. If not, continue copying until they all have
the same data

12. Press Esc (on the keyboard)

To clear the clipboard/marquee

There is no requirement to clear
the marquee after pasting, we are doing so in these exercises to help you
learn the concepts. When actually working on a project, the action of entering
data in another cell after pasting (as well as many other actions) clears
the clipboard.

To copy the data from one
cell to several other cells (a range of cells)

13. Click on cell A2

14. Type 45678 and press Enter

15. Click on Edit (in the menu) Copy

16. Click on cell B2then,hold down the mouse button and drag to cell
E2

Cells B2 through E2 should
be selected as follows:

17. Click on Edit (in the menu) Paste

You have just copied
the data from one cell to several cells.

18. Click on any one cell

To clear the selected
range.

19. Press Esc (on the keyboard)

Do so only if you want
to clear the clipboard.

Concept:

You have now learned that
the Paste command pastes data into the selected range, regardless of its
size (one cell or several cells). Additional exercises on this are presented
below.

The Excel Menu and Toolbars:

Up to this point, the Copy
and Paste commands were performed from the Excel menu. The menu contains
substantially all the features of the program. But, as you probably already
know, there many short-cuts. Immediately below the Menu bar is the Tool
Bar, with the different Tools (Icons) ready for action.

The Copy Tool looks like:

Note the Icon looks
like two pages of paper as if you made a copy and now have two pages.

The Paste Tool
looks like:

Note the Icon looks like
a clipboard, which is creating a copy from the clipboard (the page on top
of the clipboard), thus the Paste

The Cut Tool looks like:

We have not covered this
yet, but this works basically the same as Edit (in the menu) Cut
, which cuts the data out of its current location and pastes it to the
new location. Some users call this
moving the data.

If you are not sure what a button
will do, just place your mouse cursor over the button for about two seconds
(do not press the mouse button, just position the mouse cursor over the
button). A small message box will pop up, telling you what this button
does. This is true for all buttons.

Some terminology: Excel uses
the term Toolbar to described the row of icons below the menu bar. Excel
calls these icons buttons. I called them icons because they are pictures
representing a command; age old computer terminology. Why Excel puts buttons
on the toolbar is a mystery. Shouldn't they put buttons on the button bar
and tools on the tool bar? It doesn't really matter, the point is that
in this handout and in material written by others, the terms: button, tool
and icon tend to be used interchangeably.

To repeat the first exercise
using the Toolbar

20. Click on cell A3

To begin this exercise

21. Type 57933
and press Enter

To enter new practice
data

22. Click on the
Copy Button:

Again, note the marquee
around the data and the message in the lower left in your screen. This
is the same as clicking on Edit (in the menu), then clicking on Copy.

23. Click on cell B3

24. Click on the Paste
Button:

As before, the data is
copied into the cell and the marquee continues to display.

25. Click on cell C3 and drag to E3

Cells C3 through E3 should
be selected:

26. Click on the Paste
Button:

27. Click on any cell

To unselect the range

28. Press Esc (on the keyboard)

To clear the marquee.
Your spreadsheet should now look something like:

Concepts:

These last few steps had
you copy and paste using the buttons rather than going through the menu.
Remember, the buttons are simply short-cuts. If you come to work tomorrow
and the copy and paste buttons are gone, you simply click on Edit in the
menu and continue working.

These last few steps also
repeated the steps of copying from one cell to one cell and from one cell
to several cells. You should now be getting a feel of how this stuff works.
More repetition below.

Copy Several Cells to
Another Location:

29. Select
A3 through E3

30. Click on the
Copy Button:

Note the marquee surrounds
the entire selected range

31. Click on cell A4

32. Click on the
Paste Button:

All the cells selected
for copying are reproduced at cell A4. No need to select the Paste To range

33. Click on any cell

To unselect the range

To Paste without using the
Paste Button

34. Select the cells
A4 through E4

35. Click on the
Copy Button:

36. Click on cell A5

Do not click on the Paste
Icon

37. Press Enter

Note the Paste has been
performed and that the marquee is no longer displayed.The block of data should now look like:

Concepts:

Pressing Enter is an Excel
shortcut to Pasting. By pressing Enter to Paste, the data is Pasted
and the clipboard is cleared. This is a nice shortcut as it is fast
(the Enter key is easy to use) and you do not need to press Enter to clear
the clipboard (the marquee drives some users crazy).

The exercises that follow
will instruct you to Paste using several different methods, the menu, the
icons, pressing Enter, etc. You may choose to Paste the data using
a different method, which is fine. This exercise is written for beginners
and each step has a purpose, however, each one of you is at a different
level of skill and experience, so there is no harm in using a method that
is preferable for you.

Copy and Cut a Block of
Cells to Another Location:

Ensure that you have data
in cells A1:E5 as noted in the previous step. It doesn't make
any difference what the data is, as long as there is data.

38. Select the data in cells
A1:E5

39. Click on the
Copy Button:

40. Click on cell A10
and press Enter (to paste the data)

The block of data has
been copied. Note that there is no need to highlight the Copy To
range, just put the cursor in the upper left corner where you want the
data to go. Also note that the Copy To range is highlighted.

41. With the range A10:E14
still highlighted, click on the Cut Button:

42. Click on A16
and press Enter

The data has now been
Pasted to a new range. Note that pressing Enter to Paste works with
both the Copy and Cut commands. In a real world situation, this step
may be valuable when you Paste to the wrong range. If this happens,
just move (cut) the newly pasted to the correct range.

Copy and Paste Using the
Keyboard:

43. Select the data in cells
A1:E5

44. Hold down the Ctrl
key and press C (on the keyboard)

Note the marquee, showing
you the Copy command has been executed.

45. Click on G1

46. Hold down the Ctrl
key and press V (on the keyboard)

The data has been posted

How can you remember these key
board shortcuts? The quickest method is to simply click on Edit (in
the menu) and you will see the shortcuts listed next to the menu command.
These are probably the most used commands in all Windows software, therefore,
they should be easy to remember. Regardless what software you are
in, the likelihood of these commands being the same is very high.
If your not sure, just click on the Edit menu.

In Review and Other Related
Tips:

The Copy, Cut and Paste command
can be executed in several ways. In this exercise, the Edit Menu,
the Button Bar or the keyboard. Paste can be also executed by pressing
Enter.

You can copy one cell or a range
of cells, whatever is selected will be copied.

The marquee gives you a visual
reminder of what cells will be copied

If you paste to the wrong range,
you can Undo the paste. Click on Edit Undo (in the menu), the Undo
button or press Ctrl Z (on the keyboard).

If a cell is formatted, perhaps
bold and italics, the format is copied as well

There are other methods of copying
which are discussed in another exercise (remember, this exercise is just
the basics).

When copying formulas, the formula
references will be changed relative to the original reference. This
is the topic of another exercise.

Pay attention to the Excel screen
as you work. Many times it is telling you or is giving clues on what
to do next. The marquee and the message on the status bar (at the
bottom of your screen) are just two examples.

If you learned a command
in other software, try it when in Excel. The copy, cut and paste
are excellent examples of commands that work basically the same in all
software.

You are not limited to copying
in just the current file. You can copy to another worksheet or document
file, and this is not limited to just Excel. You can copy to other
programs as well, such as Word, Access, WordPerfect, PageMaker, or whatever.

Several other issues
related to copying, cutting and pasting may arise as you work, such as
how to highlight, tricks in highlighting, finding the range to Copy To,
copying non-contiguous cells, copying values only, copying a row into a
column, using the Drag and Drop features, instant highlighting, dealing
with hidden rows and columns and more. Review the topics list for
articles/exercises on theses features as well.